BOARDSEP03

• Board Meeting Date: 9/22/2003
• Description: Petition to Enforce the Provisions of the Blue River Decree
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Other

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7. Senate Document 80 is a contract between Reclamation and those parties
benefiting from or affected by the C-BT Project, including the River District and
constituents of the River District, Association, OMID, PID, GVIC, and Middle
Park. Reclamation is obliged to abide by the terms of Senate Document 80, and
Reclamation's role in operating the C-BT Project is that of "a trustee responsible
for the protection of West Slope interests." Supplemental Judgment and Decree,
Case Nos. 2782,5016 and 5017, at 2 (Feb. 9, 1978).

8. Senate Document 80 further requires that Reclamation not be prejudiced in its
operation of the C-BT Project, and that the C-BT Project be operated '"in a fair
and efficient manner, equitable to all parties having interests therein." Senate
Document 80 at 3.

9. Senate Document 80 also has the force and effect ofa federal statute because its
terms have been incorporated within other federal legislation. Senate Document
80 is incorporated within the authorizing legislation for the C-BT Proj ect. See
Act of August 9, 1937,50 Stat. 564,595 (1937). Additionally, certain of the
operational requirements of Senate Document 80 were expressly incorporated
into the Blue River Decree. In 1956, as part of the Colorado River Storage
Project Act, Congress sanctioned the Blue River Decree, including the
incorporation of Senate Document 80, and required all agencies of the United
States to act in accordance with its terms: '"The Final Judgment, Final Decree
and stipulations incorporated therein in the consolidated cases of the United
States of America v. Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, et a/., Civil
Nos. 2782,5016 and 5017, in the United States District Court for the District of
Colorado, are approved, shall become effective immediately, and the proper
agencies of the United States shall act in accordance therewith." 43 U.S.C. ~
620j.

10. Reclamation's authority to operate and maintain the C-BT Project is prescribed
by and limited to the terms and purposes expressed in Senate Document 80 and
the Blue River Decree.

11. When the C-BT Project was first proposed, West Slope interests expressed grave
concern about the impact of the diversion of water from the Colorado River
Basin to the East Slope. Even if the water was taken only in accordance with the
water rights priority system, the removal of water from the West Slope would
hamper and possibly eliminate the potential for future development of economic
interests in Western Colorado. The issue was hotly debated within the halls of
Congress and in the state of Colorado. Congressman Edward Taylor of Colorado
opposed the C-BT Project because, as initially proposed, it failed to protect the
future development interests on the West Slope.

12. The compromise that allowed the C-BT Project to go forward, and that garnered
Congressman's Taylor's support, was the promise to construct "'compensatory
storage" on the West Slope. The creation of a new water storage facility in
Western Colorado would allow the capture of water during the peak spring flows

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